As Europe adopts a new treaty to strengthen its union, and choses new authorities to speak with one voice for the continent, it confronts the fact that, with twenty seven countries, 500 million people, a combined economy bigger than the US, and almost 2 million soldiers under arms, the European Union is to all intents and purposes, a superpower. Will 27 nations be able to pull as one and become a dominant power in the 21st century?